Reviews
... the attempt to humanize ancient warfare is a worthy endeavor and Garland is to be commended for managing this effort well, painting a vivid and universalizing picture of the human causes and consequences of war with which we can, sadly, too easily relate.
... no book has been devoted primarily to the civilian aspect of the war—in particular, to the advance evacuation and unexamined emotional suffering of thousands upon thousands of refugees. Put like that, the scene is immediately relevant today, and Garland’s narrative well gauges the kind of hysterical anxiety and ultimate misery that surely accompanied the mass displacement and bleak destruction to which the refugees twice returned... Essential.
Garland's account of the burning and rebuilding of Athens is another of his finely nuanced reimaginations of the bare documentary and material record.
Garland hat insgesamt eine Studie vorgelegt, die vor allem durch die Wahl ihrer Perspektive überzeugt.
Athens Burning is the fullest account of the Persian sack of Athens in September 480 and in June 479 bce available in English... What stands out in this book is Garland's creative imagination. He works harder than most to imagine what it must have been like to make drastic decisions, to imagine the political pressures the leaders felt and the psychological effects of breaking up families and abandoning one's city to the enemy. The book is immersive in this way and transforms a dramatic episode of ancient history into a human-interest story.
A fresh approach to the Greco-Persian wars focusing on Athens's evacuation, Persian occupation, and rebuilding, this compelling book is accessible to undergraduate students, and deserves the attention of scholars and non-specialists alike.
Book Details
List of Illustrations
Prologue
I The Origins
II The Evacuation
III The First Burning
IV The Second Burning
V The Post-War Period
Epilogue
Afterlife
A Note on the Sources
Chronology
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggested
List of Illustrations
Prologue
I The Origins
II The Evacuation
III The First Burning
IV The Second Burning
V The Post-War Period
Epilogue
Afterlife
A Note on the Sources
Chronology
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggested Further Reading